Scam calls are frequent and call us over 20 times a day...Leo will entertain them and listen and he thinks it is funny to listen to them..then say NO and hang up..but it is taking up our PHONE MINUTES..and I cannot get him to understand that..Then scammers call and they say there are with the Government and we have won a grant...others call saying we missed jury duty and that there is a warrant for our arrest..and that we have to pay 1000.00 for each time we did not show up for jury duty...they have a number on the warrant...and then they advise to go get 1000.00 on your credit cards and send it to them...When I heard my husband talking I went over and they had convinced him he needed to pay.....he got angry ...with me..then calmed down....but later in the evening he went for a drive...when he came home and watched the news..the scam was on the news and he got so mad..about it...I said did you go and do something yesterday...did you get caught in the scam...he said YOU take care of you..and I take care of me..and he was yelling at me....so I don't know if he did or did not..I cannot keep doing this...I don't understand the disease...I want OUT!

3 Answers

E X A C T L Y I agree...and those with DEMENTIA...are ALWAYS FOOLED...and even when someone they trust tells them these calls are not legal..they argue ...finally a friend stopped over and in normal conversation I brought it up..and THANK GOD he said I just hang up on them..it is a scam..and he went into detail about how the courts contact you if you miss jury duty...It is not easy...dealing with dementia....some days I want to RUN FAR AWAY today I said...Honey, we need to put the storm windows all the way down..or it will rot out the windowsill...LAWD..he went into ..I can never do anything to please you..I left the windows up the last time I washed them cause I knew you would ask me to wash them again...NOTHING I DO IS RIGHT I said I am just trying to PROTECT our home..if the water or moisture gets in the windowsill it will rot and it will cost us to fix them...he said..I am just gonna die and leave you the house..you can fix them with the money I leave you...LAWD A MERCY..I am sick of this....I wish I was strong enough to use these old windows ..but they are wood and stuck and you have to be a man to open them...Then a friend came over and I said something about the windows..and Leo got him to help him put the windows all the way down.....I just do not get this disease..why it makes you NOT care about your property..why he wants to distroy the truck Tailgate and break out the tail light on purpose..dump coffee in the seat of the car..kill the fish in the fish tank cause of the electric bill and when I call him on these things..He says YOU cannot prove I sprayed RAID on the porch to kill the fish..I said well the FISH are DEAD what PROOF do I need after that...then he says YOU cannot PROVE I jacked up the tailgate and broke the light..I say well the tailgate does not close and the light is broken..He said you cannot prove I did it...I said It was fine when I walked away from you at the dump, and when I came back it was jacked up, broken and not able to close..there was no one else around...I have never said you did anything in your life that you did not do..why would I start lying about you know...He said I don't know..but you are making up these stories that I did these things and I DID NOT....so..he cannot remember doing them..and OUR NEW THEM SONG is....YOU are driving me our of my mind....I am about to GO NUTS!!

I think telemarketers get a list of people over 80 to prey upon. People over 80 don't hear very well and often get confused easily. They can be easy pickings for people using fear techniques or offering something free. My mother is plagued with these calls on her phone, while I never get any calls on mine. I know it is because she is on a target list. I wish the government would spend more time regulating the companies that prey on elderly people. It would be beneficial to the government, because often these companies are looking to charge unneeded things to Medicare. Companies may tell someone they are going to send them free glucose meters, testing supplies, catheters, etc., but what they are going to do is put a stiff bill to Medicare. I tell my mother there ain't no such thing as a free diabetes meter (or whatever else is being pushed).

Credit card security, home security, medical alert, HVAC maintenance -- all the things important to the elderly -- these companies call all the time. I'll have to look into the tele Zapper, pstiegman. The calls can become very time consuming. I have to answer the phone when my mother is away from it, which is usually when it rings. I listen to all, because they often give the option of removing the number from the calling list. Sometimes that works. Other times not.

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